The British Trade Dollar was struck between 1895 and 1935 to “facilitate British trade in the Orient”. It never circulated in the UK. At the moment, it's listed as a 4 shilling piece in the UK section. The question is, where should it go? I'm sure there are other similar pieces that fall into the same awkward category, issued by one country for use elsewhere but without a clear indication. The restrikes of the Maria Theresa Thaler, perhaps?
Former Numista referee for banknotes from Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Saint Helena.
I think the paper KM catalogs were good at highlighting issues that were primarily for trade (maybe they still have this in the notes section of the online version).
How about if the heading was tweaked slight for that sub-category
Emergency and Trade Coinage, then it could go under official necessity coins?
They certainly weren't issued due to an emergency but then nor were many of the bank and merchant tokens currently listed under “Emergency coinage”. The problem stems from a requirement to categorize a coin which is in some way “non-standard”. We do need something for these pieces, as they are distinct, but treating most of them as emergency issues isn't working. For me, true emergency issues should be indicated by a tag. We then have separate categories of coins titled “Bank tokens”, "Merchant tokens", “Trade coins” and “Siege coins”, plus any other types we haven't thought of yet. Local coins should be listed in the place that issued them, with a tag to show they only circulated in a part of the area covered by the currency they are denominated in. This way, we categorize coins by what they were not what they weren't.
Former Numista referee for banknotes from Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Saint Helena.
Status changed to Done(Jarcek, 29 Nov 2024, 13:17)
